Journal, Cabinet, Multilingual Parlour, Untranslated Conference Room, Repository of Erudite Pastimes, even a Gymnasium for the Polemist and the Humorist; Consacrated to Oddities and Facts Concerning Peculiarities of Theatrical Amusements related to the Circus, Conjuring, Comedy etc.; their Connections with Fine Arts; the Uncovering the Curiosities of their Past, and the Critical and Hopefully Provocative Account of what of Interest is Remaining of their Uncertain Present. Profusely Illustrated.

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

Sunday gallery: Superlative Suggestions

Posters from the Golden Era of Theatrical Hypnosis

Few fields in the human knowledge and amazement are so suitable for stage as is hypnotism. His blend of mistery and humour, "instruction" and comedy, laughs and mysticism made it one of the most popular features of the fair tradition and of the vaudeville era. Any performer with a minimum of stage charisma, without singing or acrobatic abilities, could turn himself into a professor of psycology or a sorcerer of somnolency. They baffled science. Out of the theatre, once at home, endless booklets filled libraries or mail boxes tring to theach "how to" hypnotize.Later, space-age popular culture propelled the mitology behind this modern science from the rasputinian mesmerizers to the abducting aliens, up to the tv screens, without diminishing his power.Ridiculizing each other is probably one of the hidden desires of this umanity, and we give to the mystic on stage the right to officiate those humiliation for an evening of innocent entertainment.Hypnotism remains today an entertainment form for cruise ships, tv show or corporate events. Even with peculiar exponents, it rarely preserves the limelight fascination and the imposing imposture of the vaudeville scientists, dime-show decorated ministers or mesmeric masters.

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Raffaele De Ritis

Impostor of the international stage arts, he is said out from a noble estinguished family of Southern Italy. From childhood he attempted escapes to the strolling life. Without refusing an academic theatrical education in Rome and Paris, he began to earn his life in the frequentation of carny barkers, crocodile hypnotists, quick-change virtuosos, aerialists, actors, ballet étoiles.Nobody knows why and when producers began trusting in his directorial services, spreading his signature around the globe: from Savary, Brachetti, or Larible; to American sanctuaries as Big Apple Circus or Cirque du Soleil. It is in his hands that Feld dared to put the concept of Barnum’s Kaleidoscape; and the Princess Grace Theatre of Monte Carlo or Spoleto Festival trusted for magic events or Shakespeare stagings.He wrote books and dictionaries about theatre, circus and magic; his signature infestated in the last 20 years major international circus periodicals. Mentalism, training of escapologists, academic lecturing on silent movies are other ways to assure his existence besides writing and directing.Mixing forgotten Martini recipes and tracking theatrical memorabilia are his beloved pastimes.